How a Riding Academy Became a CIA Prison

CIA Secret 'Torture' Prison Found at Fancy Horseback Riding Academy

The cityscape of Vilnius, capital of Lithuania, a Baltic state that was once part of the Soviet Union. The site of the CIA's former secret prison is in a forest 20 kilometers northeast of the city center.

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CIA Secret 'Torture' Prison Found at Fancy Horseback Riding Academy

The cityscape of Vilnius, capital of Lithuania, a Baltic state that was once part of the Soviet Union. The site of the CIA's former secret prison is in a forest 20 kilometers northeast of the city center.

ABC News

CIA Secret 'Torture' Prison Found at Fancy Horseback Riding Academy

According to a former U.S. intelligence official and a current Lithuanian government official, this former Lithuanian horseback riding academy was converted into a secret CIA detention center in 2004. Some alleged al Qaeda terrorists were held at this facility, the officials said.

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CIA Secret 'Torture' Prison Found at Fancy Horseback Riding Academy

The front of the prison, as seen from the road. The former riding academy is in the town of Antaviliai, near a suburb where many prominent Lithuanians live.

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CIA Secret 'Torture' Prison Found at Fancy Horseback Riding Academy

This former stable was converted into a living area for CIA interrogators and guards, who were sometimes seen by locals heading to a nearby lake to swim.

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CIA Secret 'Torture' Prison Found at Fancy Horseback Riding Academy

This image from GoogleEarth shows the horseback riding academy in the forests outside Vilnius, Lithuania, as it appeared in July 2002. The facility would later be purchased by what sources called a CIA front company.

Google Earth and Digital Globe

CIA Secret 'Torture' Prison Found at Fancy Horseback Riding Academy

This 2009 satellite image from maps.lt shows how the grounds had changed between 2002 and 2009. During its 2004 renovations, the CIA installed concrete slabs and individual living pods for prisoners in the red-roofed building, once the site of an indoor riding area, while CIA interrogators were housed next door in the brown-roofed building, formerly the site of the horse stables.

maps.lt and UAB Hnit-Baltic

CIA Secret 'Torture' Prison Found at Fancy Horseback Riding Academy

As seen in this image from a Lithuanian social networking site, the CIA prison was a horseback riding academy prior to its 2004 conversion. The building in the rear, an indoor riding area, would later hold the detention pods for prisoners.

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CIA Secret 'Torture' Prison Found at Fancy Horseback Riding Academy

This image from a Lithuanian social networking site shows the riding academy prior to CIA modifications in 2004. The building to the left, a stable, would later become a dorm for guards and interrogators.

ABC News

CIA Secret 'Torture' Prison Found at Fancy Horseback Riding Academy

The riding academy, as seen in this photo from a Lithuanian social networking site, also included an attached cafe with green awnings where affluent Lithuanians could sip coffee. The cafe area later became part of the dorm for CIA interrogators and guards.

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CIA Secret 'Torture' Prison Found at Fancy Horseback Riding Academy

The former riding academy and former CIA "black site" is now owned by Lithuanian intelligence.